Georgia runs in six tries en route to 38-17 rugby victory over Canadian men

By Canadian Press on November 15, 2025.

BATUMI — Wing Shalva Aptsiauri scored three tries to help Georgia defeat Canada 38-17 in a hard-hitting men’s rugby match Saturday.

After conceding an early try, the 24th-ranked Canadians held their own for the next 20 minutes against the physical Georgians but had trouble denting a resolute Georgia defence. The Georgia pack began to dominate the scrum and the speedy backs took their chances en route to a 17-3 halftime lead.

Canada had its moments on attack, scoring two tries in the second half. But No. 11 Georgia kept rolling with three more tries of its own after the break.

Demur Tapladze, Giorgi Kveseladze and Tornike Jalagonia also scored tries for Georgia. Tedo Abzhandadze booted four conversions.

Brock Gallagher and Sion Parry scored tries for Canada. Peter Nelson kicked a penalty and two conversions.

Both teams have qualified for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

New Zealand referee Paul Williams had a busy afternoon, with both teams paying the price for repeated infractions. Georgia had three men shown yellow-cards, reduced to 13 men for a passage late in the game, while Canada had one man sent to the sin bin.

Georgia improved to 5-3-0 against Canada with a third straight victory in the series. Canada’s last win over Georgia was a 16-15 decision in September 2015 in a World Cup warm-up in England.

The physical game took its toll.

Georgia lost Dato Abdushelishvili late in the first half with the 253-pound prop taken off on a stretcher with an apparent leg injury. And flanker Ilia Spanderashvili exited early in the second half holding his arm.

Canada scrum half Jason Higgins didn’t make it out for the second half.

The Canadian men, now 1-7-0 on the year after their fifth straight loss, wrap up their November tour against No. 20 Portugal next Saturday in Coimbra.

The game was played in Batumi, located on the eastern shore of the Black Sea some 20 kilometres north of the Georgia-Turkey border, at the 20,035-capacity Adjarabet Arena, which is home to soccer’s FC Dinamo Batumi.

Canada had issues getting there,

The team’s scheduled flight out of Bucharest was cancelled, forcing it to overnight in Istanbul. The travelling party didn’t land in Batumi until early Tuesday evening, cutting into its preparation time.

There were first starts for lock Barnaby Waddell, who made his Canada debut off the bench in last week’s 32-21 loss to No. 21 Romania, and prop Emerson Prior, who made his debut against Spain in Edmonton in July.

Higgins started at scrum half, before giving way to Gallagher, with Noah Flesch at inside centre. Older brother Mason Flesch continued in the back row.

Canada took advantage of a poor Georgia start that saw the home side put the kickoff directly into touch, give up a free kick at the ensuing scrum and then a penalty for offside. But an errant Canadian throw at a lineout deep in Georgian territory ended the threat with Georgia then driving the Canada scrum back to earn a relieving penalty.

Georgia stuck back quickly with the ball going to Aptsiauri on the flank and the speedy winger dodged four Canadian tacklers for the game’s opening try and a 5-0 lead in the eighth minute.

A 23rd-minute Nelson penalty, after a Georgia infraction at the ruck, cut the deficit to 5-3.

Tapladze scored in the corner in the 26th minute for a converted try to up the Georgia lead to 12-3.

Georgia skipper Beka Gorgadze was sent to the sin bin in the 36th minute for a deliberate knock-on. Despite being a man down, the home side went ahead in the 38th minute with Aptsiauri capping off a linebreak by Abzhandadze.

Aptsiauri danced down the touchline in the 45th minute for his third try and a 24-3 lead. And the wing set up Kveseladze with a pass at the tryline in the 53rd minute for Georgia’s fifth try.

Canada was rewarded for its efforts with a Gallagher try in the 56th minute after some fine work by wing Nic Benn. Nelson’s conversion cut the deficit to 31-10

Parry was sent to the sin bin in the 64th minute with Georgia’s Jalagonia touching down from the back of a maul soon after. Luka Ivanishvili and Tapladze joined Parry on the sideline in the 71st and 72nd minute, taking the hit for a string of Georgia penalties.

Back on the field, Parry scored Canada’s second try in the 78th minute with No. 8 Matt Owuru, who stood out with some punishing tackles, involved in the buildup.

The Canadian starting 15 went into the match with a combined 288 caps, up from 244 for the Romania contest. Captain Lucas Rumball (63 caps), fellow forward Cole Keith (42) and Nelson (33) accounted for 138 of them. Eight players had 12 or fewer caps.

The eight-man bench had 77 caps between them.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2025

The Canadian Press